Irish Flute Tunes

04 June 2023 - I've just noticed that the index has been upgraded from 'Muddled Up' to 'Deleted'.  I am in the process of adding the tune types to a drop down list at the top of the page. This process is incredibly boring (or maybe just predictably boring) - it's definitely boring anyway - and will take me a while. In the meantime you can browse the site page by page or just search for tune titles. Thanks, Michael.       **** Tune Index all Muddled up ****   I've just posted a tune here for the first time in months. While I was on the site I noticed that the tune names are no longer in alphabetical order. I think they are now in chronoligical order. If you just type Ctrl +F and then put in the tune name, or part of the name,  it will take you to the link for that tune if it is on the site.   *** Some recordings not playing ***   Some recordings go missing from this site from time to time; the internet seems to suffer from memory laspses jist like the rest of us. If you find that a recording doesn't play, please let me know. I have the recordings backed up somewhere (though I'm not sure where) and as a last resort I think I might be able to find some of the tunes in my head and somehow transfer them from there back onto the site.               Hello. This site contains recordings I have made as a source of tunes for people who play the flute, or other instruments for that matter. They are often just versions of tunes as I remember them. My memory isn’t the best so in some cases I cheat and find the dots online. In some cases the online versions and the dots inside my head aren't quite the same so there may be a sort of 'average' appearing. I usually play the tunes once through slowly to make them easier to learn, then I have a bit of a run at them to give another view of them. I hope this approach is OK. If anyone has any comments, or tune suggestions, please get in touch (iflute@googlemail.com). Thanks, Michael Clarkson (Belfast, Luxembourg and on the Dublin-Belfast Aircoach).    Slowing Down Tunes   Just in case the tunes on this site aren’t dull enough, you can slow them down using recent versions of Windows Media Player (I’m sure there are plenty of other ways of doing this too).   In Windows Media player click Now Playing at the top of the screen then pick Enhancements and then Play Speed Settings. There is a nice range of speeds displayed but I can only get the half speed one to work. That’s probably enough to be getting on with in any case.

Here's another tune from O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland. I hadn't noticed it before, despite its being there since 1907. I don't remember ever seeing a wren either. Maybe because they're so small.  

Tune number 748 from O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland - 1001 gems  There are 1000 tunes in this book with better names but only some of them are better tunes.      

O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland tune number 129   I probably would have been better getting the cat to play it.  

I play this tune by direct debit.  

Here's another tune from Francis O'Neill's 'Dance Music of Ireland - 1001 Gems'. My understanding of 'gem' in today's context is a tune without syncopation and notes keeping close company with other notes they don't get on with.  

Here's tune number 652 in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland.   It's the best tune between tunes 651 and 653.  

As requested, here's an attempt at a flute version of a steadfastly fiddle tune.     X: 1 T:Jackson's Reel (sort of flute-friendly'ish) R: reel M: 4/4 L: 1/8 K: Dmaj |:F|D2FD EDFE| DEFD EAcE|GE ~E2 GABd| ceAc dBAF| D2FD EDFE| DEFD EFGE| ABce dBAG| F/2G/2F EG FDD:| |:g|fd d2 ~d3f| edef edcB|A2cA BAcB| ABcA Bcde| fd d2 ~d3f| edef edcB|ABde faea|1fd d2 ~d3:|2fddc d/2d/2c dB|| A3A B2AG| FAAF G/2F/2E F/2E/2D| ~E3F GFEG| Agec dBAF| D2FD EDFE| DEFD EG ~G2| ABce dBAG| FAEG FDAF||   Here's the uncut version: https://thesession.org/tunes/1665    

Here's a tune high in vitamin C. Also called the 'Belfast March', named after a town low in every vitamin.    https://thesession.org/tunes/5000

Here's a tune I was asked to post here. It's a great tune but I can't play polkas, so I never play them, so I can't play them, so I never play them, so ...   The associated polka dots are here: https://thesession.org/tunes/1560  

Here's a tune which Tom Morrison recorded i 1928. London clogs are probably mainly fatbergs in the sewers these days.   Here it is played properly: https://archive.org/details/TomMorrisonTheLondonClog   Here it is written out badly:

This reel was made in space for the flute; sorry this effort isn't as out of this world as the title would suggest.    

Here's a tune written by Josie McDermott in honour of Peg McGrath who made one of the nicest flute noises I've ever heard.  

A short tune to fill a spare minute. I don't know how much postmen/postwomen (or even postmodernists) whistle now under the burden of Amazon boxes.  

Here's a tune I first heard from a recording of John McGuire - Seán's father. The guy in the photo was Jack Rowe - looks like he could blow a flute with the back of his neck. Some feat. Some neck.    

Here's a reel which you can hear Denis Murphy playing at: Mount Collins Reel / Doon Reel. There are special wobbles in the second tune which, according to the info at archive.org, are due to a hole being 'punched slightly off-center'. I'd imagine that could cause a wobble or two right enough.   Here are some notes: https://thesession.org/tunes/4026  

  I've been living in a teeny weeny flat in Luxembourg for the last three weeks and have been afraid to play in case the people in the teeny weeny flats above and beside me objected. I finally got playing last night in a pub at a session with 4 flutes - just like home only the drink was a lot dearer. This tune was mentioned (not by me) but nobody knew it well enough to play it. I've given myself a crash course in playing the tune today in my teeny weeny apartment in this nice little country. I think the first half of the term 'crash course' might be the most relevant here. I'll blame that on my fear of annoying the residents near my little Luxembourgish lodging.   I think Tommy Peoples made this tune up. Best to find a recording of him playing it, or any other tune for that matter.

This jig is also known as 'Health to the Ladies'. It's a good tune for getting used to playing in A as it doesn't need any G sharps. As for the identity of Sweet Biddy Daly: I think she was the alter ego of Sour Suzie Knightly. https://thesession.org/tunes/327

Here's a reel composed by Josephne Keegan. I can't tell you much about the title though I know that a gate is like a door with the outside on its inside and outside; a Mullagh (or mullach) is a hilltop and so lots of hilly places are named after this feature:http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/mullach.  Here are some dots: https://thesession.org/tunes/2243

Here's a reel which was included in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland in 1907 as 'An Bhó Mhaol / The Hornless Cow' but was recorded by Liam Walsh in 1933 as 'The One Horned Cow' https://archive.org/details/LiamWalshTheFairyReelTheOneHornedCowTheLimestoneRock.  The beast must have sprouted a bit in the intervening 26 years; unless 1930s Waterford had a population of bovine unicorns - possibly only visible to Uilleann Pipers.  Maybe it still does. (There's a baby battering a table in the background of this recording - more in time than many percussionists).  Here are the cow's dots. https://thesession.org/tunes/2825